“This month’s drop looks a lot more like our worst case scenario, which is that it’s something else and more of a true reverse mortgage volume reduction overall,” lamented RMI in its report.

December’s numbers were also clouded by the partial shutdown of the federal government that began on Dec. 22, although RMI noted that this situation was not the driving force for the volume slippage.

“While the government shutdown does mean that HECMs were not endorsed for 5 of the 20 working days in December, that adjustment would only take volume to 2,335 loans,” RMI added.

RMI also cited American Advisors Group as the leading HECM endorsement firm of 2018, with a total of 10,876. That was far ahead of second-ranked Finance of America Reverse with a year-end total of 3,932.